Herdmen kill 5 in Yola, 3 in Benue

Five people were killed in an attack by armed herdsmen, Wednesday night, in Kola community, Guyuk Local government Area of Adamawa State.

The attackers were reported to have stormed the town at around 2am, killing residents and burning down houses.

The Adamawa State Police Command, through its public relations officer, Othman Abubakar, confirmed the attack.

Othman said the attack occurred around Mararaba Kola in Guyuk, where some herdsmen with locally made guns attacked the villagers and burnt seven houses.

Othman said, “Herdsmen armed with locally made guns, attacked Kola, killed a woman and four other men, burnt down seven houses and escaped. Two other victims, a woman and a man, sustained gunshot injuries.

“The injured have been taken to the hospital for treatment and the dead to the mortuary for autopsy.”

Reports said normalcy has been restored to the area and five of the attackers have been apprehended by the local vigilance group.

Lemuel Bappa, a resident of Guyuk, said the gunmen launched the attack on Kola at 2 am, killed three persons including a woman, and burnt several houses.

In another development, three persons have been reportedly killed in Tiza Village, in Tombo Council Ward of Logo Local Government Area of Benue State, in an early-morning invasion of the area by suspected herdsmen.

Daily Sun gathered from sources in the area that the herders stormed the village at about 8:30am on Thursday and ambushed farmers who were on their way to the farm. The killers were said to have wasted no time in opening fire on the unsuspecting farmers killing three instantly, while several others sustained various degrees of injury.

A community leader in the area, Chief Joseph Anawah, told our correspondent that the herdsmen came in their numbers, wielding sophisticated weapons; they blocked farm paths and shot indiscriminately at anything in sight.

“The Fulani terrorists have continued to wipe out Benue farmers, especially in Logo and Guma. The terrorist herders have this morning (Thursday, July 5) at about 8:30am, shot and killed three persons at Tse Tyogbihi also known as Tiza Village in Tombo council, near Anyiin, on their way to the farm.

“The herders went after a husband and wife who were working on their farm and killed the husband but the wife managed to escape. When the villagers conducted a search in and around the place, the woman was found alive.”

While noting that majority of the locals who were still staying in the IDP camp in Anyiin have been devising a means of going to their farms in the morning and returning to the camp in he evening, Anawah said that the herders have now devised a means of laying ambush for them and killing them on their farms: “As we speak, the displaced persons have refused to return the area because the herdsmen are still occupying all the farm areas and entire communities.”

Confirming the latest attack on Tiza community, chairman of Logo LGA, Mr. Richard Nyajor, disclosed that the herdsmen ambushed four farmers, who were on a motor bike going to their farms, opened fire on them and killed three of them on the spot, while one person was shot in his leg.

Nyajor gave the names of those killed as Aondofa Mkarsha, Emmanuel Iorliam and. Msugh, while the fourth person, who sustained gunshot wounds, has been taken to NKST Hospital, Anyiin, for medical attention.